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The nation
could deal with a bioterrorist attack, but it could be better
prepared, Health and Human Services
(HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson and other lawmakers told a
Senate appropriations committee October 3.
Thompson, along with Sens. Edward Kennedy
(D-MA) and Bill Frist (R-TN), called on the Senate appropriations
subcommittee that oversees the HHS budget to come up with
more funding to better enable the nation's healthcare system
to deal with prevention, detection, and treatment of a bioterrorist
incident.
"Yes, we
need to do more on bioterrorism, but we are prepared
to respond," Thompson told the panel.
"We are vulnerable, not because we
are unprepared, but because we are underprepared," Frist
agreed.
Frist and Kennedy, who in 2000 pushed
a bioterrorism preparedness bill into law, laid out a proposal
to fund the measure, calling for an increase of $1.4 billion
over the current $400 million being spent now.
Thompson said the White House Office of
Management and Budget is still reviewing his dollar request,
but he told Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd
(D-WV) that the department could use "around $800 million"
more immediately.
Kennedy and Frist listed as their top
priority -- and Thompson concurred -- funds to strengthen
state and local public health agencies. "Without the
front line, nothing else can work," Frist said.
Indeed, later in the hearing, Dr. Patricia
Quinlisk, Iowa's state epidemiologist, said she has no good
way to contact health officials in the rest of the state outside
of normal business hours.
"Two years ago, when a petting zoo
bear was diagnosed with rabies on a Saturday, there were several
health departments with victims living in their counties that
I could not contact until the next Monday morning when their
offices opened," she said.
Frist and Kennedy also want to spend $295
million to help hospitals develop "surge capacity"
to deal with an influx of patients in case of an attack.
Also high on the list is beefing up food
inspections at the Food and Drug Administration, where Thompson
said 750 inspectors are responsible for monitoring 55,000
different sites. "This is one area in which we must be
more vigilant," said Thompson, because disease-causing
agents can easily be spread through the food supply.
Another priority is developing vaccines
and treatments for potential bioterrorism agents. Thompson
announced at the hearing that the department, working with
the private sector, is accelerating its next-generation smallpox
vaccine, with 40 million doses now scheduled to be available
by the end of next year.
Reuters, Washington
Oct 03, 2001
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